by: the Common Constitutionalist

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If one were to look in an Encyclopedia (like Google for old folks) for the modern-day definition or explanation of free-market capitalism – beside the detailed explanation, might be the logos of the ride sharing services Uber and Lyft.

These services are the virtually unregulated, non-unionized, and much less expensive version of the taxi. This is the real free-market at work and it’s proving to work quite well without government and/or thuggish Union oversight.

Practically anyone can become a driver for one of these services. One must be at least 21 years of age, have a 4-door sedan or equivalent, have a valid driver’s license and insurance, a minimum of three years driving experience and pass a motor vehicle and criminal background check. Do that and you have yourself a part or full time job.

Uber is one of those “only in America” ideas that can only spawn in a free-market. In less than seven short years the company went from triumphantly tweeting that it had made its first $5 on March 27, 2010, less than four months after it began, to having a worth of almost $70 billion worldwide. read more

by: the Common Constitutionalist

In a free society which has a free market economy, is there any reason a person shouldn’t be able to pick up a passenger in his or her own car and drive them to their destination for money? The passenger willingly makes the decision that it is safe to enter the vehicle, as does the driver of the passenger and they both agree on a price for the trip. That’s the free market and it is the crux of ride-sharing businesses like Uber and Lyft.

But of course we do not live in a free society nor do we have a free market economy – at least not in cities and states controlled by authoritarian liberal democrats who prefer government supported monopolies. They abhor the free market because, by definition, the market is free of their influence and meddling.

So as ride-sharing becomes more and more popular, governments and their crony partners-in-crime, the Unions, are stepping in to attempt to “control” these companies, or put them out of business.

Until the advent of these free market companies, taxis were the only game in town. One of my heroes, Walter E. Williams, wrote in August that in order to become a taxi operator in a place like New York City, a city commission, filled with bureaucrats on the take, must first grant you the privilege of purchasing a taxi license. Then that license must be purchased from an existing cab company for an astronomical fee of as much as $700,000 or more – and that’s for each vehicle. read more